Thursday, 3 December 2015

Southern Ijaw LGA which has a high concentration of ex-militant leaders poses specific security considerations.

The
riverine communities of Ekeremor and Brass LGAs also present a unique
security challenges that would require keen monitoring throughout the
election period.

Sagbama LGA, the home town of the incumbent
Governor Dickson is another area to watch as both candidates would be
keen to claim victory there.

Yenagoa LGA which houses the seat of power is an important area to watch security-wise.

Key Mitigating Factors:

The
20 political parties involved in the election had signed a Peace Accord
which observers say is holding in spite of occasional fracas between
supporters of the PDP and the APC.

Different initiatives have been held to sensitize candidates and supporters on the importance of peaceful elections.

Bayelsa
is a small state with only a total of 663,748 registered voters. The
efforts of the police led by IGP Solomon Arase along with the support of
other security outfits in the state and the region would likely be
enough to forestall breakdown of law and order during the election.

Should there be violence, it could be localised and rapidly quelled to avoid it spreading to other areas

IntroductionThe
governorship election in Bayelsa State is scheduled for Saturday 5th
December, 2015. The atmosphere in the build up to this, has been tense
and filled with fear of high level of insecurity. Understandably, the
outcome of the 2015 general elections in which the Peoples’ Democratic
Party (PDP) which had been in power both at the federal level and in
Bayelsa State for the past 16 years was voted out of the presidency,
increased the stakes in the staggered governorship election in Bayelsa
State as both the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are
working hard to win the election in Bayelsa.

For the PDP, it is a
battle to retain one more state in Nigeria to serve as a basis from
which the party could attempt to relaunch itself to power in the next
general elections. Bayelsa is also the home state of Dr. Goodluck
Jonathan, PDP’s presidential candidate who lost and conceded to
President Muhamadu Buhari in the last general elections. Dr. Jonathan
has been visible in his campaign for the PDP. Furthermore, although the
governorship election held in Kogi State on November 21, 2015 was
inconclusive with supplementary election scheduled for December 5, the
APC was leading in the polls. The sudden death of the APC candidate,
late Abubakar Audu has exposed the elections to multiple legal tussles.
Both parties would therefore seek to win convincingly to devoid any
post-election challenge in Bayelsa State.

For the APC, this is
the first time they would be contesting as an opposition political party
in Bayelsa while being in power at the presidential level. The APC’s
candidate is a former Governor of the State who is now seeking to unseat
an incumbent of the PDP thus repeating the feat the APC accomplished at
the presidential level last March. The APC is mobilising its resources
across Nigeria – with the Vice President headlining one of their
campaign rallies. Analysts believe that APC is seeking to win Bayelsa to
consolidate it gains into the South South where it presently controls
only Edo State.

Hot-spots for Violence

Southern Ijaw LGA which has a high concentration of ex-militant leaders poses specific security considerations.

The
riverine communities of Ekeremor and Brass LGAs also present a unique
security challenges that would require keen monitoring throughout the
election period. Sylva who hails from Brass LGA is thought to be a
favourite in that area, but he is keenly match by the strength of
Dickson, the incumbent.

Sagbama LGA, the home town of the
incumbent Governor Dickson is another area to watch as both candidates
would be keen to claim victory there.

Yenagoa LGA which houses
the seat of power is an important area to watch security-wise. With its
population and ease of access, all candidates would seek to win in the
town where they intend to govern from.

Conclusion and Recommendations As
Bayelsans participate in the second staggered elections to be organised
under the Muhammadu Buhari led administration and under the current
leadership of INEC, there are important lessons for Bayelsans and
Nigerians to take away from the process.

The government agencies,
especially the judiciary should be sensitive to the impact of their
work on elections. Judgements on on-going criminal prosecution coming on
the eve of the elections as well as the adjournment of hearing on
eligibility suit of a candidate well ahead of the election date risk
being interpreted as politically motivated and calculated to determine
the outcome of the election.

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Nigeria has in recent years been battling different
security and governance challenges which manifest in the form of impunity,
mismanagement of resources, human rights violations, corruption, bad governance
and insecurity.CLEEN Foundation in a recent
study on governance and
security in the south east found among other things decline and marginalization
of South East region of Nigeria, crime and insecurity, victimhood and poor governance etc. Key findings from the study
reveal strong and casual link between poor governance and insecurity.
It also shows that politics
drives insecurity while lack of implementation of policies and reforms engender insecurity in
form of backlash and leads to declining social capital.

In
an effort to strengthen the governance structures at the communal and local
levels to provide support for promoting public safety and security, the CLEEN
Foundation is partnering with the Ford Foundation to implement a project aimed
at promoting governance and security in the South East geopolitical Zone. This builds
on the lessons learnt from research and the implementation of other governance
and security projects in Nigeria.

The CLEEN Foundation under the
auspices of its South East Governance and Security Project organized the second
“Governance
and Security Forum” at Abakaliki LGA Secretariat Hall, Ebonyi State on
Tuesday 3rd November 2015.

The Transitional Committee Chairman of Abakaliki
LGA, Hon. Peter Nwaogbaga in his speech, thanked CLEEN Foundation and partners
for convening the forum. The Forum brought together a cross section of
over 70 participants drawn from Abakaliki LGA including experts and
stakeholders from civil society organizations, security agencies, traditional
institutions and other stakeholders within the region.

The Forum provided an opportunity
for both structured and informal reflection on governance and security issues
in the South East in general and particularly in Ebonyi State. Participants
discussed and proffered solutions to identified
challenges.

CLEEN Foundation is also engaged in building
the capacity of community leaders and security agencies on conflict prevention,
community policing, and educating them on negative effects of corruption to
governance and security.

The discussions in Abakaliki were led by Mr. Frank
Odita a retired Commissioner of Police and the Vice Chairman of the Board of
Directors of the CLEEN Foundation. Mr. Ifeanyi Anyanwu, Program Officer and head of
the CLEEN Foundation’s Owerri office facilitated the forum.

Presentations at the forum were aimed at educating
participants on community policing and to facilitate discussions on safety,
security and governance which contribute also to the adoption of the monthly
NPF/VPS Coordination Meeting and Community Accountability Forum (CAF) that CLEEN
Foundation and Justice for All (J4A) are implementing in seven states in
Nigeria.

From Abakaliki, the “Governance
and Security Forum”moves toEbonyi LGA on 5th November and
thereafter to Enugu South LGA on 11th November, 2015.

Thursday, 8 October 2015

The Access Nigeria Investigative Reporting (Research
Reporting) Training Programaims
to improve media’s capacity to produce investigative journalism reports - with
a particular focus on corruption in the security sector - in order to enhance
media's effectiveness as anti-corruption watchdogs. Through the Access
Nigeria project, journalists in the investigative reporting program will have
access to:

·Investigative
reporting skills-building workshops;

·Eligibility
to apply for financial support from an Investigative Reporting
Innovation Fund; and a

·Mentoring
program that connects journalists with experienced investigative
reporters.

The program will provide targeted support for journalists to
investigate and report in restrictive operating environments, access and
analyze hard to find documents, and improve interview techniques to get the
cooperation of official and other sources. Through the Investigative Reporting
Innovation Fund, the program will offer pre-publication legal guidance to
journalists around legal implications when carrying out investigations.
Training provided will include discussions regarding the code of conduct and international
standards of journalism ethics specifically regarding the issues of covering
corruption around security sector.

The program welcomes applications from qualified candidates
in print, TV, radio, or electronic media. Participants profile: mid-career
journalists who are willing to immerse themselves in an intense, interactive
learning environment, can commit to attending the training workshop, and have
demonstrated previous experience covering issues of corruption, public finance,
justice sector or the security sector.

About IWPR:IWPR in an
international nonprofit organization that gives voice to people at the
frontlines of conflict, crisis and change. IWPR helps people in the world's
most challenging environments have the information they need to drive positive
changes in their lives — holding government to account, demanding constructive
solutions, strengthening civil society and securing human rights. IWPR builds
the skills and capacity of local journalism, strengthens local media institutions
and engages with civil society and governments to ensure that information
achieves impact.

In Nigeria, IWPR is working in partnership with Partners for
Democratic Change (PDC), the CLEEN Foundation, BudgIT and Public and Private
Development Centre (PPDC) to implement the Access Nigeria project. More
specifically, IWPR is collaborating with the International Centre for
Investigative Reporting (ICIR) on the investigative journalism training
component of the project.

Investigative Journalism Skills Building Workshops

Workshops will focus on challenges faced on a daily basis in
terms of researching, accessing and analyzing information in order to produce investigative
reports designed to push boundaries and encourage public awareness around key
anti-corruption themes.

The first workshop is expected to take place over 5 days in Abuja
in late October 2015 (October 26 – October 30, 2015).

Workshops will include curricula on the following topics:

·Principles and
best practices of investigative reporting

·Ethics of
Investigative Reporting and media code of conduct

·Principles and
best practice of data visualization

·Legal threats
awareness raising and strategies for mitigation

·Freedom of
Information Law

Investigative Reporting Innovation Fund:Journalists who fully attend the training workshop and
publish their training experience will be eligible to apply for support from
the Access Nigeria's Investigative Reporting Innovation Fund.The fund will enable journalists to undertake
investigative projects. Recipients of support from the Fund will also be
assigned a mentor to provide guidance and support throughout the research,
writing, and publication phases of the development of investigative reports. More
information on how to apply for support from the Investigative Reporting
Innovation Fund will be presented at the conclusion of the training program.

Schedule:

Friday, October 16, 2015: Deadline for applications to the
Investigative Reporting Training Program

Selection Process and Evaluation Criteria: Applications to the training
program will be evaluated with the following criteria:i) Quality of statement of purpose and
demonstrated interest in research-based reporting; ii) Quality of writing
sample; iii) Diverse representation of media outlets and gender balance of
participants. All applications will be reviewed by experienced selection panel,
comprised of representatives from the Institute for War & Peace Reporting

As well as basic personal details, the application form
requires: (i) a Statement of Interest that outlines the applicant’s interest in
the Investigative Reporting Training Program, a brief discussion of the applicant's
preparation and background, and a statement regarding applicant's ambitions for
potential Investigative Reporting projects; ii) a writing sample in the form of
a previously published article that demonstrates the applicant's interest and capacity
in investigative reporting; (iii) details of two professional referees who are
able to verify your prior work experience and suitability for the Investigative
Reporting Training Program.

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

A majority of Nigerians value their right to move freely within West
Africa but say that crossing borders for work or trade is difficult, according
to the latest Afrobarometer survey.

The survey findings provide a snapshot of Nigerians’ mixed views on
their country’s international relations, including their difficulties in crossing
international borders, their assessment of assistance provided by the African
Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), their
preference for the United States as a model for Nigeria’s development, and
their appreciation of China’s contributions as a business and development
partner.

These findings are detailed in Afrobarometer Dispatch No. 43. Other
survey findings on Nigeria are explored dispatches No. 11, 18, and 29. All are
available at www.afrobarometer.org.

Key findings

Six in
10 Nigerians (62%) say West Africans should be able to move freely across
international borders in order to trade or work, but more than
half (54%) say that doing so is “difficult” or “very difficult.”

The United States is the
preferred development model for Nigeria, favoured by 43% of respondents,
followed by China (25%).

Two-thirds (67%) of Nigerians
perceive China’s economic and political influence on Nigeria as “very
positive” or “somewhat positive.”

Two-thirds (67%)
say they did not receive remittances from friends or relatives living
outside of the country during the previous year.

Afrobarometer

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research
network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance,
economic conditions, and related issues across more than 30 countries in
Africa. Five rounds of surveys were conducted between 1999 and 2013, and Round
6 surveys are currently under way (2014-2015). Afrobarometer conducts
face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with
nationally representative samples.

Fieldwork for Afrobarometer Round 6 in Nigeria was conducted
by Practical Sampling International (PSI) in collaboration with the CLEEN
Foundation. PSI interviewed 2,400 adult Nigerians between 5 December 2014 and
19 January 2015. The sample covered 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states, as well as the
Federal Capital Territory. It was not possible to conduct interviews in three
states in the North East zone – Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe – due to unrest in the
region, so substitutions of sampling units were made from neighbouring states
in the same zone. Thus, each of the country’s zones is represented in
proportion to its share of the national population. A sample of this size
yields results at the national level with a margin of sampling error of +/-2%
at a 95% confidence level. Previous Afrobarometer surveys have been conducted
in Nigeria in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2012.

Respondents were asked:
In your opinion, how easy or difficult is it for people in West Africa to cross
international borders in order to work or trade in other countries, or haven’t
you heard enough to say? (%)

Figure 2: Perceptions of
ECOWAS and AU assistance to Nigeria | 2014

Respondents were asked: In your
opinion, how much does each of the following do to help your country, or
haven’t you heard enough to say: a) The Economic Community for West African
States or ECOWAS?b) The African Union?
(%)

Figure 3: Best model for
development |
Nigeria | 2014

Respondents were asked: In
your opinion, which of the following countries, if any, would be the best model
for the future development of our country? (%)

Figure 4: Contributors to
China’s negative image in Nigeria | 2014

Respondents were asked: Which of the following
factors contributes most to negative images of China in Nigeria, or haven’t you
heard enough to say? (%)

Friday, 24 July 2015

Being text of a communiqué issued
at the end of a two-day Summit on Security and
Governance in the North East of Nigeria held on Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th
June, 2015 at the MaiduguGuestPalace,
Gombe, GombeState. It was organised by the CLEEN
Foundation in collaboration with the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation
Programme (NSRP) with support from the Ford Foundation.

The Summit was organized to facilitate discourse
on the nexus between governance and insecurity in the North East. It is a
follow-up activity to the finalization of a research on governance and security
conducted in the six (6) states of the North East. The Summit provided a platform to extensively
discuss the findings of the study along thematic lines, develop strategies for
implementing the findings, agree on immediate priority areas and identify key
partners to drive the initiatives forward in the North East.

The summit had in attendance about
70 participants, drawn from the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Office of the
National Security Adviser (ONSA), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), National Boundary
Commission (NBC), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Unity and
Peace Corps (NUPC), Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Institute for Peace and
Conflict Resolution (ICPR), Victim Support Fund (VSF), Civilian Joint Task
Force (CJTF), National Union of Journalists
(NUJ), the media, civil society groups and universities in the region,
notably University of Maiduguri, Adamawa State University and Taraba State
University. The opening session was chaired by Alhaji Lamido Abubakar (Durbin
Gombe), representing the Emir of Gombe.

After very robust discussions and
deliberations historical and contemporary security and governance challenges in
the North East, including the on-going counter- insurgency initiatives, the participants
observed that:

The security challenges in the
North East are the consequences of failure of governance at different tiers of
government;

Existing conflict early warning
and response mechanisms have been weakened by poor inter-agency coordination
and tensions in civil military relations that generally alienate the populace
from government security institutions;

Although insurgency presents the
most challenging threat to national and human security, the North East region
has also been affected by communal violence, religious violence and violence
conflict over land and water use. The insurgent groups have taken advantage of
existing divisions, rivalries and conflicts among groups to unleash violence on
communities in the region.

The ineffective response to the
insurgency has stemmed from the fact that the Nigeria government initially
under-estimated the capabilities of the insurgent group and overstated the
capacity of the Nigerian armed forces and security institutions.

The counter insurgency initiative
have suffered from poor equipment and poor intelligence management system of
the Nigerian military as well as the military’s poor understanding of Nigeria’s
geography ;

The default position of deployment
of the military for internal security operations have kept the military
continually engaged in internal law enforcement thereby contributing to the
weakening of the law enforcement capacity of the police;

The porous state of Nigerian
borders has provided a conducive climate for transnational crime such as
unhindered proliferation of smalls arms and light weapons and trafficking in
persons and drug that have made Nigeria’s border areas notably the Lake Chad
Basin insecure but safe havens for insurgent groups and internal criminal
networks;

Mutual suspicions and conflicting
interests among member states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission have affected
the operations of the Multinational Task Force (MNTF);

Recent efforts to
counter-insurgent such as the procurement of more weapons for the armed forces,
addressing of issue of discipline and loyalty, strengthening of cooperative
frameworks among contributing states to the MNTF and relocation of the military
command centre to Maiduguri
have recovery of towns and communities held by insurgents. This has forced the
insurgents to revert to terrorist tactics of suicide bombing increasingly
carried out of women and girls.

The newly inaugurated
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari enjoys enough goodwill both
nationally and globally which is expected to boost the counter-insurgency
effort.

There in need for close security
cooperation at the regional level between affected countries within the Lake
Chad Basin Commission, the ECCAS and ECOWAS;

Politicisation and opaqueness of
the operation of the military makes it difficult to understand their efforts
and provide support from the communities;

There is need for periodic
progress report in order to understand the successes and failures of the various
security agencies in the fight against the insurgency;

The Ministry of Defense should
carry out its constitutional duties to procure weapons for the security
agencies to prevent unilateral procurement by the agencies;

The advancements made in the 6
weeks to the election show that we have the capacity to deal with the
insurgency, if we back it up with political will;

Community policing will assist
greatly in feeding information into the national peace architecture and
fostering community policing would make it difficult for groups like Boko Haram
to grow unnoticed and unchallenged.

Following these observations, the
participants resolved and recommended as follows:

Security

There is need to step up efforts
to resolve all lingering incidents of violent conflict through proactive
implementation of recommendations of panels of enquiries, addressing of
grievances of disaffected groups and effective community policing;

There is need to improve
equipment, morale and discipline in the military in order to sustain the gains in
the counter-insurgency initiatives in the weeks preceding the 2015 elections;

There is need to strengthen coordination
and collaboration among the different security institutions and between
security institutions and the civil society;

The Mobile
section of the Nigeria Police Force should be strengthened through better
training, equipment and deployment to reduce frequency of deployment of the
military for internal security operations;

Government and security
institutions should be adopt measures including training, monitoring and
application of sanctions to ensure adoption and observance of rules of
engagement and respect for human rights and dignity by security personnel
deployed for security operations;

There is need to effectively
implement the national peace and security architecture designed to ensure early
warning and effective response at federal, state, local council and community
levels. The proposed National Peace Commission can be used to coordinate the
functioning of the peace architecture based on existing peace and security
structures;

The commendable effort to
relocate the command centre to Maiduguri should
be enhanced by the appointment of a war commander to lead operations and
collaborate with the MNTF based in Ndjamena,
Chad;

Government and the military
should initiate concrete plans for demobilization and disarmament of the CJTF.
There should involve creation of a database of CJTF members and roll out of plans
for provision of vocational training and job placement of CJTF members and
their possible enlisting into security agencies.

Traditional institutions that
play crucial roles in conflict resolution at the local level should be
strengthened to gain trust of stakeholders and complement the roles of other
agencies and institutions.

Governance

Governance and service delivery
should be improved especially at the state and local government levels in the
North East to address the issues of youth unemployment and restiveness.

There should be strategic
capacity building of community members to demand accountability and
representation from elected leaders;

Credible platforms existing at
the state and community level should be harnessed to support governance and
security measures in the communities.

There is need to strengthen
governance at the local level in order to close the gap between the government
and communities. The prospects of bridging the gap can be enhanced through conduct
of regular elections at the local government levels.

There is need for realignment of
the statutory mandates of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and
States Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) and the National Commission on
Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to enhance coordination and
effectiveness in the management of the humanitarian emergencies;

The Victim Support Fund (VSF)
should be mobilized to deliver support to victims of the violence including
families of members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) that died in
operations, as well as women and orphans and others who suffered irreversible
injuries and loss in the conflict.

Border development and management
agencies should be strengthened by the creation of trans-border institutions
and involvement of community institutions in border areas in security
management.